


Until the Ripples Die Away

by FannyT



Series: Ficlet Instruments 2019 [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Noir, Ficletinstruments, Gen, Week Six - Film Noir
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 19:28:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20314786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FannyT/pseuds/FannyT
Summary: Alec Lightwood, private investigator, was heartily sick of the same kind of cases cropping up on his desk.





	Until the Ripples Die Away

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:**
> 
> A weary, cynical P.I. gets a new case.

Alec looked across his desk at the man seated in front of him—a lot more handsome than the usual fare, which didn’t hurt. But if this was another cheating spouse case, he was going to strangle Underhill—who’d been acting as his combined secretary/underling for two years now, but hadn’t seemed to learn how much Alec detested lurking outside motel rooms. 

“What can I do for you, Mr Bane?” he asked. 

“Oh, call me Magnus, please,” his client said. “Mr Bane makes me think of my funeral.” He grinned, as though at some private joke. Alec didn’t exactly get it, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate that smile—open and yet with something secretive to it, as though Alec was being invited to solve a puzzle. 

“I need your help with a mystery,” Magnus Bane continued. “I’ve given it my all, but the answer still eludes me.” 

“What’s the nature of this mystery, Mr…” Alec caught the start of a wince and amended to, “Magnus?” 

Magnus gave him another of those very charming grins, then laughed shortly. “It’s a little embarrassing. I seem to have been temporarily discorporated.” 

Alec nodded on autopilot, then took in the meaning of the words. “I’m sorry?”

“Dead,” Magnus said, smiling at him. “I’m dead.” 

Light dawned. Alec took in the faint glimmer at the edges of Magnus’s fingertips, the merest hint of transparency in his outline, the trace of glamour hanging around him. 

“Oh,” he said. “You’re one of the immortals.”

“More or less,” Magnus said, then raised his eyebrows. “Currently less. But yes, I do have the power to bring myself back, given the right circumstances. One of those circumstances being knowledge of the person who killed me, unfortunately. That’s where you’d come in handy.”

Alec opened and closed his mouth, searching for words. His usual client intake formula didn’t really seem to fit. 

“And, uh,” he said, “how long, um—”

“Have I been dead? Three days now.” Magnus sighed. “Plays havoc with my social schedule, I can tell you.”

Alec found himself grinning. Well, he _had_ told Underhill that he was getting tired of all the same old clients. 

“I’ll need a list of potential suspects,” he said. “You'll have to be prepared for some close scrutiny of your friends and relatives, I’m afraid.”

“I guessed as much.” Magnus smiled at him. “So does this mean you’ll take the case?”

“It’s the first time I’ll actually have the help of the murder victim. I’d be a fool to pass it up, I think.”

“Great! How about I start with showing you the scene of the crime, then?” Magnus said, reaching out for a handshake. 

Alec’s hand passed straight through. 

Magnus sighed. “Oh right, of course. This is going to be no fun at all.”

“Well,” Alec said, without thinking about it, “I wouldn’t necessarily say that.” 

That was probably a silly, unprofessional thing to say, but with the way Magnus’s face lit up, Alec found he didn’t care.


End file.
